Emergencies
by Great Northern
Summary: Reid had faced serial killers, but that wasn't as terrifying as asking Hotch for something personal.


"_I'd blame parents except he hasn't got 'em." –Aladdin. _

SSA Dr. Spencer Reid had faced psychopaths, serial killers and people who could snap him like a twig with their pinkie finger. He had stared down the barrel of a gun more times that his eidetic memory would like to remember. He had seen Penelope Garcia drunk and faced the wrath of a hung-over Penelope Garcia.

Anyone would think that such a simple task of asking his supervisor to sign a slip of paper would be a piece of cake.

Reid thought it would be easy too, until he actually was standing right in front of SSA Aaron Hotchner's door with said piece of paper in his trembling fingers.

Reid had no idea why his hands shook all the time, but it bothered him. He tried to control them so he could somewhat resemble a normal person. But nope, his hands had a mind of their own and loved to fidget and shake and make Reid seem like some awkward, socially-challenged kid.

Well, he was all of that, but he didn't want to announce that to the world. He was a profiler; he should know how to control his body well enough to hide such things such as his awkwardness and fear.

Reid had been putting off this event for almost a week now, but he knew that procrastinating was only making it worse. He woke up every night at abnormal hours, haunted by the dreams he had of an unusually cruel Hotch laughing in his face.

Sometimes Hotch's face would transform into those of his high school bullies. Those nightmares were the worst because the words coming out of his supervisor's mouths were old memories of much darker days.

_Hotch isn't going to laugh. He's a good guy. He has a kid. I've talked to Hotch about worse. I've hugged him before, but it was in a much different situation. I probably could have kissed him and it would have been completely normal, _Reid thought to himself.

The young doctor looked around, hoping nobody was staring at him as he awkwardly stood outside his supervisor's door, holding a slip of paper in trembling fingers.

Everyone in the bullpen was in their own little worlds. Emily was busy scribbling away at the case files piled all over her desk. Every few seconds she would take a sip of coffee then go straight back to her work.

Morgan was chewing on the end of his pen, glancing every few seconds up to the clock. It was Friday and the agent was obliviously fantasying about his weekend adventures and not the case files in front of him.

All the other agents were doing their own little things. Reid knew maybe five of their names, but he didn't care. His team was all he really needed. They were the most friends he had ever had in his short life.

Reid took in a deep breath and knocked once on his supervisor's door.

He immediately regretted it.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid! I've gone into Hotch's office plenty of times without knocking, why start now? He's probably already profiling that one act. And why only one knock? Who knocks once?_

"Come in," Hotch's even voice came from within.

Reid took in a deep breath and opened the door. Hotch was sitting at his desk, brow furrowed in concentration. The older agent didn't even look up at his subordinate walked in.

"Yes Reid?" Hotch asked, his voice as even and stoic as always.

Reid swallowed thickly and crossed the few lengths of office floor to Hotch's desk. His legs were shaking like jelly and Reid was tempted to grab on to the edge of the desk to keep his shaking body from falling over like a complete idiot.

"I uh-" Reid swallowed once more before continuing, "I was wondering if you could possibly maybe…sign this." He placed the slip of paper on Hotch's desk.

Hotch finally looked up, raising one eyebrow as he did so. "Oh really."

"Yeah…I know it's kind of a lot to ask, but since you know Gideon well…left I'm kind of left without one. I suppose I could leave Gideon on there, but that would be awkward if something did happen to me and he was the only one they could contact." Reid paused and added as if an afterthought, "He probably wouldn't even call you guys, just leave a letter."

Hotch scanned the piece of paper and placed it on top of the case file he had been working on earlier. "You sure you want me to sign this?"

Reid nodded a little too eagerly. "Yes. I mean, I really don't have anyone else. You know about my mom, she wouldn't be a lot of help in this type of situation, probably think it was some kind of conspiracy." A forced laugh came from Reid. "And my dad…well, I haven't seen him since I was ten. I wouldn't even know what to put down for that. I suppose I could get someone else on the team if you really don't want to but since you're the leader, or alpha male of our little group….well you and Morgan."

"Reid, I only asked if you were sure," Hotch said, though his lips twitched into a sort of smile thing.

"Yes, I'm sure."

"I was waiting for when you would come in here asking me about his," Hotch said as he began to fill out the paper.

Reid felt his heart swell as Hotch started to fill it out. His dreams were wrong. Well, logically he already knew that they were just an over exaggeration of his fears, but Reid didn't always listen to his logical way of thinking. "Why were you thinking that?"

"Reid, I'm also a profiler."

"Oh…right."

"After Gideon left I knew it was only a matter of time."

"How'd you know Gideon was my emergency contact?"

Hotch raised an eyebrow at Reid.

Reid blushed and looked away. "Right, profiler. Got it."

"And we can't just let someone as accident prone as you run around without someone looking out for you," Hotch said as he finished the slip of paper and handed it back to Reid.

"I'm not that accident prone," Reid protested as he looked over the piece of paper with all of Hotch's information on it. He couldn't help but get a warm feeling at the fact that even though Gideon wasn't here, there were still people who cared if he got hurt.

"Reid, get back to work," Hotch said, though it was lighthearted.

"Yes Hotch," Reid said, moving to exit.

"And have a good weekend."

"You too."

"And please, I don't want to get a phone call from the hospital. Just because you have an emergency contact doesn't mean you should go get in an emergency."

Reid only smiled and clutched the piece of paper to his chest, close to his heart, as he exited Hotch's office and returned to his desk.

"_I will go most everywhere to feel like I belong." -Hercules_

**Author's Note: Just a little oneshot for those times when we get a craving to read an oneshot. I'm going to go eat some gluten free brownies now and feel satisfied that yes, I did accomplish something on my day off from school.**


End file.
